Production strategy - the real thing ?

This was a fairly critical piece https://www.lbbonline.com/news/coca-colas-holiday-pitch-leaves-a-bad-taste-in-agency-land regarding the timing of Coca Cola’s global review, but to be frank it only scratches the surface in areas like production.

A conversation with a major production supplier before the Easter break confirmed what I’d long believed, and indeed have experienced over the years, that global clients think there is a global solution for everything. Worse, they seem to think, and despite clear supply chain indicators to the contrary, that consolidation can go on ad infinitum. 

There are many reasons for this misapprehension. Firstly, supplier consolidation has seen too many key figures leave the production industry. Whilst on the face of it that shouldn’t present a problem, the passion and deep sector knowledge has been replaced by the ‘professional executive’. Often the result of private equity activity or agency groups trying to recover lost ground, vital industry knowledge and the innovation that springs from it, is being lost.

Equally, the leaner more agile supplier approach that typified the de-coupling revolution, is gradually being replaced by the same profligate structures it sought to replace. The casualty here will be funds for investment and future innovation.

The other, and slightly more contentious point, is that pitches are being constructed largely by procurement theorists with insufficient knowledge of the category. This is picked out in Leah Power’s article, where she highlights ‘too many irrelevant factors being evaluated’.

I was told that production element of the Coca Cola global review is reputed to be in the region of ￡400m. Unlike creativity or media buying this will involve a complex group of suppliers to deliver to the plethora of channels we have today. Many of whom will have had to make significant long term capital expenditure commitments.

Where will the passion for production investment come from when agency networks and private equity deviate to the next bright and shiny opportunity. Moreover, how will the inevitable gaps in knowledge that have already appeared be filled ?

Production has long since been treated as the poor relation to creativity and media buying. Which I’ve always found rather strange, when you consider that if the idea appears badly, then what has been the point of all that prior endeavour. Does it therefore not deserve the same level of investment in skilled staff by brands, in order to develop a proper understanding of the area?

Am I biased, yes, it’s an environment I’ve inhabited for many years, but neither do I feel it’s unreasonable to suggest that the supplier community has played a major role in helping to push the boundaries of creativity and media delivery.

There was certainly a time when production suppliers, creative agencies and brands got universally excited by innovation and the impact it could have on the process. That excitement, for the supplier, has been replaced by fear. The fear that they will be evaluated by people who have either no feel, the wrong experience, or both. The fear that they are unlikely to get a return on their investment, let alone make a profit.

To fair to to Coca Cola they are far from the only brand with challenges in this area, but their logo is a nice colourful start to the piece !